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Aunt May. What's with all the hate anyway?

So what's with all the hate especially from CBR when it comes to Aunt May?

So Peter is allowed to have fun, screw around with girls that give him trouble but Aunt May can't have a relationship with a normal guy while writers force Aunt May to get involved with psychos like Vulture and Octavius?

So what's with all the hate especially from CBR when it comes to Aunt May?

So Peter is allowed to have fun, screw around with girls that give him trouble but Aunt May can't have a relationship with a normal guy while writers force Aunt May to get involved with psychos like Vulture and Octavius?

I am going to give you the short version of this. The main guys at Marvel won't let the 616 Peter Parker or Aunt May age up and/or die. Some may like it, some may not. Whatever, a lot of people hate that Peter Parker doesn't age. I don't agree with him depending on what the gimmick involved is, but when I am in a period of time where I do not like Spider-Man and what's in his stories, I move on and save bucks by borrowing novels from the library.

A lot of what I've enjoyed over the last ten or twenty years has usually involved her dead or not used all that much. She isn't missed.

She was also the cause of OMD. She's cancer to this franchise.

Yeah well a character that has been around so long isn't going to be allowed to die by a major publisher in the big 616

Peter blowing his own secret identity was the cause of OMD, Aunt May was used as a prop to that awful story. I find Aunt May fine in the stories, putting some humor at times by showing that she cares about Peter. She is not at any fault for what Marvel decided to do with her.

"I don't like One More Day" so it's her fault. Nobody ever says anything about the character. It's about the marriage. That's what 98% of the complaints about the book are these days. People might list reasons they hate Spidey being a CEO, or Superior whatever but mostly it's just "It's not the marriage so I hate it." then backtrack to try and justify their reasons.

"I don't like One More Day" so it's her fault. Nobody ever says anything about the character. It's about the marriage. That's what 98% of the complaints about the book are these days. People might list reasons they hate Spidey being a CEO, or Superior whatever but mostly it's just "It's not the marriage so I hate it." then backtrack to try and justify their reasons.

EXACTLY. This is so, so true.

I mean, I won't disagree that OMD was a cancer to the franchise, but fans like this who condemn anything that doesn't have Peter married to MJ are just as bad.

So what's with all the hate especially from CBR when it comes to Aunt May?

So Peter is allowed to have fun, screw around with girls that give him trouble but Aunt May can't have a relationship with a normal guy while writers force Aunt May to get involved with psychos like Vulture and Octavius?

She does nothing in the stories beyond be there, sometimes be a guilt trip or be an annoying fuck.

Its especially egregious in light of her being used better in the past by dying or by knowing Peter's identity

I've always been a fan of Aunt May, but JMS really evolved her into a character who had worth beyond merely being that comic relief relative who dotes on Peter and is always on the verge of discovering his secret identity. Then "Brand New Day" regressed her back to the way she was before, and ... that was upsetting. Especially when Slott wrote her as kind of a shrew in "Superior Spider-Man."

So what's with all the hate especially from CBR when it comes to Aunt May?

Narratively speaking, Aunt May outlived her usefulness by ASM #200. She is an intrusion into otherwise interesting storylines, a distraction from storylines that actually matter. She has no narrative purpose, and hasn't had for years and years. If she doesn't die, she should at least decide to live in London or something where she can be simply ignored. But really, at this point she would serve a greater purpose to the broader Spider-man story if she were as dead as Uncle Ben. The same is also true of Bucky Barnes, who will also always serve a greater purpose to Captain America's story dead than alive. But Marvel screwed that up too.

Part of it is the backlash to One More Day. Some readers thought Marvel traded the marriage for May.

That said, even before One More Day, there were plenty of readers who wanted Aunt May to be killed off.

There is an element of ageism to that, with an evident belief that the old are too much of a hassle. One contributing factor would be that Aunt May has traditionally complicated Peter's life, so some readers have come up with a permanent solution to that subplot.